1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outboard engine system comprising: a casing coupled to a swivel case via a swivel shaft; an engine mounted in an upper part of the casing such that a crankshaft of the engine is vertically arranged and a cylinder block of the engine faces in a direction opposite to the swivel shaft; a torque converter; a vertically arranged output shaft connected to the crankshaft through the torque converter; a horizontally arranged propeller shaft provided below the output shaft; and a forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism for providing a connection between the output shaft and the propeller shaft; the torque converter, the output shaft, the propeller shaft and the forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism being disposed in the casing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such an outboard engine systems is already known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,600.
In the outboard engine system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,600, a lower surface of a torque converter is supported via a bearing by a bracket which is connected to a casing, and thus the overall weight of the torque converter is borne by the bearing. Therefore, the outboard engine system requires an expensive bearing having a large load capacity, leading to a difficulty in reducing the cost.